Season predictions

[redbull55]

Close losses are evidence of Fran’s accomplishments.

Lucky for us that the teams that beat us last year are sitting still, not lifting, and not working to get better. That should help us easily add 9-10 league wins to our record this year.

last season players like Garza, Nunge, Dailey were pushed around. what last year did was change the weight and conditioning program. this is a complete 180 on Fran's thinking.

adding the proper weight and muscle mass has changed, the way things are done have changed his thought process.. last season he wanted Nunge to stay under 225 lbs at 7'0, well that has changed.

there are players that should get up to 215 lbs then there are the players that should weigh 250+ lbs Garza and Cook are those type of players.

this has nothing to do with claims ooh like the other teams are not doing the same thing.

as for what Fran has done his team have done some thing that have not been done in DECADES, not just a few years but DECADES. the last coach that made it to the sweet 16 was run off.

the Alford was hired and we saw him produce JUST 3 .500 or better BT Seasons in 8 tries
then Lick came in and the most BT wins in one season was 6 in 3 season with the last one 4-14 BT and 22 total losses on the season, that was the worst season in the last 4 DECADES.

maybe you would like to go back to that type of BB slow boring BB and losing. remember Lick was the NCAA Coach of the year when he was hired, SA was supposed to be the next great coach. not so hot now was it.

 

[redbull55]

Close losses are evidence of Fran’s accomplishments.

Lucky for us that the teams that beat us last year are sitting still, not lifting, and not working to get better. That should help us easily add 9-10 league wins to our record this year.

if you look closer those team lost more than Iowa did,
Purdue 4 starting SR's
MSU JJJ and Bridges
Minnesota Mason their top player
PSU Carr their starting PG
NW Scotty Lindsey
the other teams also lost players vs Iowa who return their top 9 including all 5 scoring leaders.

this alone gives Iowa the edge.

Iowa lost 9 games by DBL digits. 6 of them were on the road.

 

[DodgerHawki]

if you look closer those team lost more than Iowa did,
Purdue 4 starting SR's
MSU JJJ and Bridges
Minnesota Mason their top player
PSU Carr their starting PG
NW Scotty Lindsey
the other teams also lost players vs Iowa who return their top 9 including all 5 scoring leaders.

this alone gives Iowa the edge.

Iowa lost 9 games by DBL digits. 6 of them were on the road.

Who cares if they lost more than Iowa did. They were all a lot better than Iowa to begin with. Purdue did lose 4 starters, but they brought in Evan Boudreaux, a grad transfer and good recruits to go with Carsen Edwards, Cline and Harmes. Do you really want to place bets on who finishes higher in the league?
MSU - please. Yes, they lost Jackson and Bridges, but return Winston, Ward, Langford among others. And add the best recruiting class in the league.
Minnesota - could be worse than Iowa. Still have Murphy, Coffey and McBrayer.
PSU - most all pundits will have them above Iowa. With good reason. After watching the dunk-fest at Happy Valley last year, not sure how anyone with a straight face could pick Iowa to finish higher than Penn State.
Northwestern - were a big disaapointment last year, and lose more than Lindsey. Also lost McIntosh, Skelly. No idea how good/bad they will be.
Indiana will have way more talent than will Iowa. IU's talent will be young. Time will tell how good.
Michigan and Maryland both were hurt by early departures, but both have good players back and good recruiting classes.
Nebraska returns everyone of significance.
Wisconsin returns everyone, gets injured players back and another recruiting class.

Yes, lost 9 conference games by double digits (bad). Also lost at Michigan by 7 after being down by 17 with 6 minutes left and Michigan coasting in. Also lost by 9 to Louisiana after being down 23 in the second half. That is a blowout. And I suppose we are supposed to feel good about losing to 8 to South Dakota State. That was just a hideous effort last year. The Lickliter years were far worse, from a lack of talent on the roster standpoint. Last year was almost harder to watch because there was enough talent to at least be decent but the team couldn't be bothered to try on defense.

 

[redbull55]

Who cares if they lost more than Iowa did. They were all a lot better than Iowa to begin with. Purdue did lose 4 starters, but they brought in Evan Boudreaux, a grad transfer and good recruits to go with Carsen Edwards, Cline and Harmes. Do you really want to place bets on who finishes higher in the league?
MSU - please. Yes, they lost Jackson and Bridges, but return Winston, Ward, Langford among others. And add the best recruiting class in the league.
Minnesota - could be worse than Iowa. Still have Murphy, Coffey and McBrayer.
PSU - most all pundits will have them above Iowa. With good reason. After watching the dunk-fest at Happy Valley last year, not sure how anyone with a straight face could pick Iowa to finish higher than Penn State.
Northwestern - were a big disaapointment last year, and lose more than Lindsey. Also lost McIntosh, Skelly. No idea how good/bad they will be.
Indiana will have way more talent than will Iowa. IU's talent will be young. Time will tell how good.
Michigan and Maryland both were hurt by early departures, but both have good players back and good recruiting classes.
Nebraska returns everyone of significance.
Wisconsin returns everyone, gets injured players back and another recruiting class.

Yes, lost 9 conference games by double digits (bad). Also lost at Michigan by 7 after being down by 17 with 6 minutes left and Michigan coasting in. Also lost by 9 to Louisiana after being down 23 in the second half. That is a blowout. And I suppose we are supposed to feel good about losing to 8 to South Dakota State. That was just a hideous effort last year. The Lickliter years were far worse, from a lack of talent on the roster standpoint. Last year was almost harder to watch because there was enough talent to at least be decent but the team couldn't be bothered to try on defense.

cry me a river, this team is going to better and I am going to enjoy people like you are shown to be the fools you are.

 

[redbull55]

Who cares if they lost more than Iowa did. They were all a lot better than Iowa to begin with. Purdue did lose 4 starters, but they brought in Evan Boudreaux, a grad transfer and good recruits to go with Carsen Edwards, Cline and Harmes. Do you really want to place bets on who finishes higher in the league?
MSU - please. Yes, they lost Jackson and Bridges, but return Winston, Ward, Langford among others. And add the best recruiting class in the league.
Minnesota - could be worse than Iowa. Still have Murphy, Coffey and McBrayer.
PSU - most all pundits will have them above Iowa. With good reason. After watching the dunk-fest at Happy Valley last year, not sure how anyone with a straight face could pick Iowa to finish higher than Penn State.
Northwestern - were a big disaapointment last year, and lose more than Lindsey. Also lost McIntosh, Skelly. No idea how good/bad they will be.
Indiana will have way more talent than will Iowa. IU's talent will be young. Time will tell how good.
Michigan and Maryland both were hurt by early departures, but both have good players back and good recruiting classes.
Nebraska returns everyone of significance.
Wisconsin returns everyone, gets injured players back and another recruiting class.

Yes, lost 9 conference games by double digits (bad). Also lost at Michigan by 7 after being down by 17 with 6 minutes left and Michigan coasting in. Also lost by 9 to Louisiana after being down 23 in the second half. That is a blowout. And I suppose we are supposed to feel good about losing to 8 to South Dakota State. That was just a hideous effort last year. The Lickliter years were far worse, from a lack of talent on the roster standpoint. Last year was almost harder to watch because there was enough talent to at least be decent but the team couldn't be bothered to try on defense.

those teams were better because of the SR's and JR's. that is what happens when SO's and FR play upperclassmen.

oh wow is us we're just lil ol Iowa that can't improve or bring in better talent. so we should just resign ourselves to finish last every year because the other teams bring in better talent, here's a heads up on the level of talent
PG JR Bohannon 4* by ESPN backup Connor 4* top 100 by ESPN
SG RSJR Moss 4* by ESPN backup JR Dailey
SF FR Wieskamp 4* top 100 by ESPN backup RSSR Baer former BT 6th MOY
PF JR Cook 4* #38 overall by ESPN backup JR Pemsl
C SO Garza 4* top 100 by ESPN backup SO Nunge runner up in the voting for Indiana's Mr. BB and 2 time class 4A 1st Team All State the states largest class.

that makes 5 4* starters by ESPN and Connor off the bench, but hey these kids are to stupid to get better, I mean according to some of you they can't even tie their own shoes.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Close losses are evidence of Fran’s accomplishments.

Lucky for us that the teams that beat us last year are sitting still, not lifting, and not working to get better. That should help us easily add 9-10 league wins to our record this year.

Granted this is an Iowa board, but often it is lost that other programs can improve as well.
Not only does Fran have to get them playing better than the abysmal defensive showing last year. He has to do that AND it has to be better than what the competition is doing.

Bottom line, how many wins does any improvement translate to?

 

[RocknRollface]

Granted this is an Iowa board, but often it is lost that other programs can improve as well.
Not only does Fran have to get them playing better than the abysmal defensive showing last year. He has to do that AND it has to be better than what the competition is doing.

Bottom line, how many wins does any improvement translate to?

Its Herby, everything is lost on him, most notably a connection with reality.

 

[redbull55]

Its Herby, everything is lost on him, most notably a connection with reality.

it is you that is lost in la la land, history is on my side
Dr. Tom had a losing season after these Graduated with just 5 BT wins in a 18 game BT season
Horton
Marble SR
BJ Armstrong
the next 3 seasons he guided the team to 3 straight 1st Round wins in the NCAAT losing in season to the eventual National Championships
Lute had a losing season going 5-13 with these as the SO Starters
Special K
Steve Waite
Ronnie Lestor
the next year they shared the BT Championship when they were JR's
as SR's with a freshman by the name of Bobby Hanson that group went to the FF,

even Ralph Millers team won 4 games the year before that same group went UNDEFEATED and won the BT Championship,

this same old spiel about the other teams had better talent and they got better, got shown up in all those seasons.

in Fran's 1st season went 4-14 with far less talent than he has now yet his teams ended up doing this
8-10 T-7
9-9 6th alone
9-9 6th alone
12-6 T-3rd with Gesell, Woodbury has JR's White was the SR on that team
12-6 T-3rd with those same players being SR's
10-8 t-5th with Jok as the SR
4-14 no Senior

 

[hawksense]

But, can you back up your claims with some stats?

 

[EastIowaHawk]

We have a lot of experienced talent, and this season I think we'll have a much better attitude and defense. So-- 4th or 5th, possibly higher. The competition for minutes on this squad is going to be brutal.

 

[Hawksfor3]

When will we hear if any news of red shirts?

 

[dawgs_04]

10-10 in the conference feels like the ceiling based on last year's defense.

 

[Rifler]

10-10 in the conference feels like the ceiling based on last year's defense.

I don't think we are going to be using last years defense,.... it sucked.

 

[dawgs_04]

I don't think we are going to be using last years defense,.... it sucked.

Agree. My prediction is based on the fact we return our core players from last year's debacle. Wild cards are JW and CM.

If the offseason focus on defense and weights pays off, I'd love it. At the same time, I'd question why a staff that's been together for nearly a decade had to have a crisis to make an emphasis.

 

[hawksense]

I don't think we are going to be using last years defense,.... it sucked.

Last year's defense did suck.

With the same parts in the assembly, I'd say we'll be a lower division defense, again. Maybe not as bad, but still bad.

The question is, can we put on the brakes enough to outscore our opponents? And that really is the key.

We won't be the 80s/early 90s Pistons or Bulls. The players who sucked the most will have to make big improvements to help those who didn't suck so much.

 

[squeezebox]

I don't think we are going to be using last years defense,.... it sucked.

Wait, so we got all new players? Seriously, I love the koolaid of a top 5 finish, but unless they actually play some defense, especially at the point position, it will look an awful lot like last year.

 

[HawkAttackDial911]

I think we finish 8th and will be NIT bound. Just not enough talent on the roster yet.

 

[NevadaHawk]

11-7 in the B1G, 5th place finish, 7 seed in the NCAAs. One win in the tournament.

Sad to say you are probably right especially with one and done in the big dance. That song never ends.

 

[Mgkcbb]

The love for Michigan State this year is truly baffling.

Teams shot 34% from 2 when JJJ was on the floor. He was a special talent that basically made up for the terrible perimeter defense MSU had.

Miles Bridges was a special offensive talent who was efficient on heavy usage while also being good defensively.

Losing these 2 exposes MSU.

Cassius Wnston, Josh Langford, and Matt McQuaid are all terrible defenders and all 3 are starting on the perimeter for Michigan State.

Nick Ward played less than 20 minutes in 10 of MSU's last 11 games because teams were exposing him in ball screen defense since he was unable to defend these.

Add in the fact that Izzo absolutely loves walk on Kenny Goins, who is terrible at nearly everything in basketball, and there's a real possibility Michigan States starting lineup is one of the worst defensive lineups in the entire league, yet national writers and pundits keep asserting that they're a surefire top 25 team and the favorite to win the conference.

It's baffling really. It's like people have never watched Josh Langford launch long 2 point jumper after long 2 jumper inefficiently the past 2 seasons while turning the ball over nearly as much as he generates assists and just default back to his recruiting ranking.

Michigan State is drawing dead to win the league unless one or more of their freshman have an out of nowhere season.


-Michigan, to me, is the team to beat here if they stay healthy. Return 3 elite defenders from the third best defense in the nation.
-Maryland is more talented than every team in the league I'm just mildly hesitant to crown them because they're somewhat young and Turge isn't a good coach.
- Nebraska returns almost everyone of note from an already solid team
- Purdue should be tremendous defensively to go along with elite player Carsen Edwards
-Wisconsin gets 2 starting guards back to go along with elite player Ethan Happ and Brad Davison.

So while they aren't a lock to finish above MSU, I certainly like all of those teams more than Michigan State, who really is closer to a bubble team than they are an actual league title contender.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

We will have the season this year that most of us expected for last year. 22 wins or more.

 

[Ihawkhoops]

Fran cannot coach D primarily because he doesn't have the quickness on the floor to defend other teams. If that isn't crystal clear to people after last season, I am not sure what it will take. If Fran checks his ego at the door and drills zone into these guys, maybe they make a big step defensively. Don't kid yourself, the only way this team gets better is improving significantly on D.

As good as Bohannon is, he isn't going to break anybody down and penetrate or deter the other team's guard from doing this at will. You throw Conner out there and it's more of the same. When you can't stop penetration, you put your 3-5 guys in help mode all the time. Playing fast is Iowa's best hope on offense because they get open looks in transition they can't get in the half court. The other side of the coin is that playing fast leads to turnovers and transition baskets by the opponent.

Fran needs to do all of (3) of these this season to justify his contract. Show up in a pre-season tournament; get to final 8 (low bar) in BTT and compete in a 2nd round NCAA game. **Note, this is not asking for much for a guy in his 9th year**.